Data-Based Framing Questions:
  • Why were the Erie Canal and packet lines, such as the Black Ball Line, such transportation innovations?
  • How did the construction of the Erie Canal contribute to the commercial development of New York City?
  • How did the establishment of packet lines, such as the Black Ball Line, also contribute to the commercial development of New York City?

The Black Ball Line:
Primary Sources:
Black Ball Advertisement from New York Evening Post, 27 October 1817 from the Collections of the New York Historical Society.
http://www.nydivided.org/popup/Documents/BlackBallLine.php
Robert G. Albion, "Planning the Black Ball Line, 1817," The Business History Review, vol. 41 no. 1, (Spring, 1967), pp. 104-107.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/3112423

Secondary Sources:
Chapter One from Transatlantic: Samuel Cunard, Isambard Brunel, and the Great Atlantic Steamships by Stephen Fox, (New York: HarperCollins, 2004).
http://www.wnyc.org/books/18589

The Erie Canal:
Primary Sources:
Tolls, Fares & Distances on the Erie Canal.
http://www.eriecanal.org/misc-1.html#toll

Secondary Sources:
Erie_Water_181.jpg
Erie_Water_182.jpg
Erie_Water_183.jpg
Erie_Water_184.jpg
Erie_Water_185.jpg
Erie_Water_186.jpg
Erie_Water_187.jpg
Erie_Water_188.jpg
Erie_Water_189.jpg
Erie_Water_190.jpg
Erie_Water_191.jpg
Erie_Water_192.jpg
Erie_Water_193.jpg
Erie_Water_194.jpg
Website: The Erie Canal: A Journey Through History.
http://www.epodunk.com/routes/erie-canal/start.html